Strange signs on the blade of a rapier

Jim McDougall · 12th June 2022, 02:35 AM

While I cannot offer a concise explanation for these markings, I might at least offer a suggestion. In the 16th into 17th century the traditions of using magical, occult and all manner of mysterious symbolism in blade markings continued.
In Italy many inscriptions of letters and magic sigils, many inscriptions of jumbled letters which may have been acrostics were used.

Often these were repeated pairing of letters or numbers, and to make things more complicated gemetria and cabalistic codes were used. There were secret societies and groups using all manner of arcane messages.

These characters have a remarkable similarity to at least the geometric styling of cuneiform, but trying to align with the many variations, periods etc. would be tough. Until we can find another example of this kind of strange characters in a deliberate configuration like this its hard to say.

It seems there are many swords out there with blades having these kinds of magical or mystic inscriptions which have never been solved. Possibly knowing more on the period and nationality of the rapier would help.,

Hoping somebody out there might recognize this.

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12th June 2022, 02:35 AM	#2
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,192	While I cannot offer a concise explanation for these markings, I might at least offer a suggestion. In the 16th into 17th century the traditions of using magical, occult and all manner of mysterious symbolism in blade markings continued. In Italy many inscriptions of letters and magic sigils, many inscriptions of jumbled letters which may have been acrostics were used. Often these were repeated pairing of letters or numbers, and to make things more complicated gemetria and cabalistic codes were used. There were secret societies and groups using all manner of arcane messages. These characters have a remarkable similarity to at least the geometric styling of cuneiform, but trying to align with the many variations, periods etc. would be tough. Until we can find another example of this kind of strange characters in a deliberate configuration like this its hard to say. It seems there are many swords out there with blades having these kinds of magical or mystic inscriptions which have never been solved. Possibly knowing more on the period and nationality of the rapier would help., Hoping somebody out there might recognize this.